Free Web NovelChapter 121: Chapter 121 The Miserable Wedding
Christina’s POV
"It explains why Beatrice was always the favorite," I said, wrapping my hands around the warm mug of hot chocolate. "Why my parents acted like everything she did was golden, while I could never measure up."
"You think your parents knew?" he asked.
I sighed. "How could my father, as an Alpha, not recognize his own child?"
"What do you mean?"
"I always wondered why my parents hated me so much," I said. "It wouldn’t have stung so badly if they were awful to everyone, but they weren’t. Franklin doted on his brother’s kid. Caroline smothered Beatrice, and when Beatrice left, she started lavishing all her affection on her niece. Not me."
I smiled bitterly. "For a while in middle school, I actually wondered if I wasn’t their child. Maybe I was adopted, like in those cheesy TV dramas."
Hudson nodded silently. His eyes never left mine.
"But what Jace told me finally makes it all make sense. My parents always knew I was their real daughter. Caroline took Beatrice because she was broken after losing her own baby. She felt guilty about keeping someone else’s child, so she overcompensated by spoiling Beatrice." I set down my mug, unable to keep still.
I stood up and started pacing.
"A few years later, Caroline started having nightmares. Babies crying, babies turning into monsters," I continued. "The dreams started after I was born because seeing me reminded her of the baby she lost."
Hudson’s eyes tracked my movement across the living room.
"The cruelest part? Caroline poured all that love into Beatrice, thinking she was making up for stealing her from Eleanor. But Beatrice knew the truth and still chose to abandon Caroline for money."
Hudson reached out and caught my hand as I paced past him. His touch was gentle but firm, stopping my restless movement. "Come here," he said softly.
I sat beside him, letting him pull me close.
"The worst part is Caroline still doesn’t know why Beatrice really left. She thinks it was some noble sacrifice," I said, feeling a mix of anger and pity.
"Jace heard all this from Beatrice?" he asked. His arm was secure around my shoulders.
I curled up next to him and nodded. "Yeah. Beatrice had suspected for years that Caroline wasn’t her real mother. She even did a secret DNA test before Eleanor contacted her. When Eleanor showed up with promises of inheritance, Beatrice didn’t hesitate to abandon the woman who raised her."
"Caroline’s going to be devastated when she finds out," Hudson said quietly.
"If she finds out. Beatrice isn’t stupid enough to confess. She’s built her whole life on lies and manipulation."
"Are you going to tell them?"
"I don’t know. I need time to process everything."
Hudson nodded. "Take all the time you need. You don’t have to go to work. Nyx Collective is going to be in some upheaval for the next few days."
"You’re still buying it?" I asked, looking up at him.
He nodded. His expression was determined.
"What’s going to happen to Jace?" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Hudson checked his phone. "He’s been arrested as Violet Lin’s accomplice, but the charges won’t hold him for long. He’ll likely be out in a few weeks. Bail’s an option too."
"He’ll definitely call Beatrice for help."
"I can block bail, if you want," Hudson offered.
"Actually, no. Let him have it." I smiled faintly. "Imagine the kind of damage a man like Jace can do. Niall and the Frostpelt Pack have no idea what they’ve married into, but they’re about to find out."
***
Mid-afternoon found me lying on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling. The ornate molding above me blurred as my thoughts drifted, processing the bombshell Jace had dropped.
When my phone buzzed, I nearly let it go to voicemail until I saw the name—Ysolde.
I answered immediately. "You wouldn’t believe what I just..."
"You wouldn’t believe what I just saw!" Ysolde shouted through the phone. "Wait, what? What did you say? Why did you block my mind-link? How could you possibly already know? Am I not the first one to contact you?"
"Know what?"
"What happened at Niall and Beatrice’s wedding!"
I shot upright so fast I felt dizzy. "You went to their wedding?"
Hudson glanced up from the dining table, where he was typing away on his laptop. His heightened senses had caught Ysolde’s excited voice.
I covered the phone with one hand and whispered, "I’m taking this upstairs."
He nodded, his eyes lingering on me with concern.
I hurried toward our bedroom since it felt weird to gossip about Beatrice in front of Hudson, even though he knew all about her now.
Ysolde hadn’t stopped talking the entire way upstairs.
"Mom didn’t want to go, so of course I got stuck with the honor. Appearances and all that crap. But it turned out to be the best decision I’ve made all year!"
"What happened?" I flopped onto our massive bed, sprawling flat on my back.
Ysolde let out another burst of laughter. "The wedding barely started, and both the bride and groom bolted! Can you believe it? Now everything’s a complete disaster since half the guests are furious while the other half are just watching the drama unfold. And I’m sitting here with a slice of top tier wedding cake, calling you live from ground zero. Wish you were here, babe."
"Start from the beginning," I urged. "Why did they bolt?"
"Well, technically, they didn’t since Beatrice fainted and collapsed right before the ceremony before getting rushed to the hospital. Niall went with her."
"Beatrice is sick?"
"No clue since I only saw her being bundled into an ambulance, but plenty of guests took photos. You should check online."
I opened Instagram and Twitter, scrolling through posts from mutual acquaintances while trying to piece together what happened.
"So," Ysolde continued, "the ceremony was about to begin while Beatrice and Niall were waiting backstage for the music cue. I got bored and wandered off, ended up somewhere in the hall near them, which gave me an excellent vantage point for watching."
"You mean snooping," I corrected, but couldn’t help smiling.
"Semantics. Do you want to hear the juicy details or not?"
"Sorry. Please continue."
"One of Beatrice’s bridesmaids handed her a phone, and I couldn’t hear what was said, but her face changed dramatically. And this was from behind a pillar twenty paces away, so trust me, it was obvious since whoever called had something big to say."
"When was this?" I asked.
"Maybe two, three hours ago?"
That would’ve been when Jace tried to call her since the timing was too perfect to be coincidence.
"She looked completely rattled," Ysolde went on. "Then Niall grabbed the phone from her and demanded to know who it was after I caught something about the police. He hung up while Beatrice started pleading with him. Her phone rang again and again and again until Niall got really mad and forced her to answer it. She did, and no clue what she heard, but she went ghostly white before doubling over and clutching her stomach."
"Morning sickness?" I guessed.
"Looked more like pain since Niall rushed her to a nearby sofa. Lucky for me they didn’t go back to the bridal suite, or I wouldn’t have heard what happened next."
I sat up, suddenly alert. "What did you hear?"
